Novel Small Cantilever

原子力显微镜（AFM）允许100万倍放大的显微照片，因此单个分子甚至原子的可视化。在过去的25年中，它已成为许多研究领域的标准分析工具。对于生物技术或生命科学的未来应用，有两个特别重要的要求：为了显示活细胞内和活细胞上的生物过程，需要与处理过程的速度相当的帧速率。因此需要高谐振频率的悬臂梁。同时，这些悬臂梁必须具有较低的弹簧常数，以避免对细胞或生物膜的机械损伤。此外，这种悬臂梁被用来测量机械性能，如生物细胞的刚度（如癌细胞的力谱）。对于真正定量和可比较的力测量，迫切需要具有低不确定性的可跟踪的弹簧常数校准。目前，还没有高共振频率和低弹簧常数的悬臂梁，而且这些悬臂梁还可以用低力校准跟踪。目前还没有所需的高分辨率校准系统。提议的项目正是针对这些缺失的项目。开发和研究具有高共振频率和低弹簧常数的新型小悬臂梁，以及用于研究连杆和校准弹簧常数的新型高分辨率测量方法。高共振频率和低弹簧常数之间的根本差异，将通过开发具有小尺寸和低质量的新型小悬臂梁来解决。弹簧常数测量和校准系统所需的高力分辨率应通过简化其力学来实现，从而提高力灵敏度，降低对扰动的灵敏度。

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) allows for micrographs of a millionfold magnification and hence visualization of single molecules and even atoms. During the last 25 years it has become a standard analytics tool in a number of research fields. For future applications in biotechnology or life sciences, there are two requirements of particular importance: For the display of biological processes in and at living cells, a frame rate comparable with the speed of the proceeding processes is required. Therefore cantilevers with a high resonance frequency are needed. At the same time, these cantilevers have to have a low spring constant, to avoid a mechanical damaging of cells or biofilms.Furthermore, such cantilevers are used to measure mechanical properties such as the stiffness of biological cells (e.g. force spectroscopy of cancer cells). For truly quantitative and comparable force measurements, a traceable calibration of the spring constants with low uncertainties is urgently required. At present, no cantilevers with both high resonance frequencies and low spring constants are available, which are in addition calibrated traceable with low forces. The required high resolving calibration systems are not available at present.The proposed project addresses exactly these missing items. Both novel small cantilevers with both high resonance frequencies and low spring constants, as well as a new high resolving measurement method for the investigation of the links and the calibration of the spring constants shall be developed and researched.The fundamental discrepancy between a high resonance frequency and a low spring constant at the same time, shall be dissolved by the development of novel small cantilevers with small dimensions and hence a low mass.The required high force resolution of the measurement and calibration system for the spring constants shall be achieved by a simplification of its mechanics and consequently an increase of the force sensitivity and decrease of sensitivity to disturbances.